Schools of education are among the most leftist, politicized jurisdictions on college campuses. Ed schools more often than not adopt the ideology of critical pedagogy to the exclusion of other ideologies, as Jay Schalin’s Martin Center report showed in 2019. Other scholars have shown the existence of the very same corrupting monoculture. Our recent report from the Claremont Institute shows how the University of Florida’s College of Education adopted an equity pedagogy model throughout its elementary-education curriculum after the 2020 riots.
Schools of education are hardly the only discipline where leftist, critical ideology has become indistinguishable from professional standards. Sociology has been so corrupted. English, too. Gender studies was practically born with such corruption. States have the ability to defund such disciplines. They can also dishonor corrupt disciplines by removing them from general-education curricula or subjecting them to program review. States have readily available levers to deal with the corruption of schools of education, since the certification of teachers directly affects the efficacy of their public schools. Many states have already exercised such power and now require schools of education to eschew “whole language” approaches to reading and, rather, to adopt “science of reading” or phonics approaches.
States have readily available levers to deal with the corruption of schools of education.The move to deny certification to colleges that persisted in teaching ineffective whole-language policies awoke states to their plenary power over teacher-certification programs. Florida recently passed House Bill 1291, and henceforth the state will not certify teacher programs that “distort significant historical events or include curriculum or instruction that [teach] identity politics” or are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political or economic inequities.” Instead, certified programs “must afford candidates the opportunity to think critically, achieve mastery of academic program content, learn instructional strategies, and demonstrate competence.”
As we demonstrate in our Claremont report, the elementary-education major in UF’s College of Education runs afoul of this Florida law. Our report provides ample receipts for this claim, including syllabi in the elementary-education major, course descriptions, course learning outcomes, assignments, and reading lists. In response, UF’s outgoing faculty senate chair, Danaya Wright, a constitutional law professor in UF’s Levin College of Law, complains that “having your course [syllabus] put on some website is a form of harassment for faculty. Your syllabus is out there [and] you’re getting targeted.” She also advises faculty senators to “talk with your colleagues, provide resources, and try to be a little bit proactive.”
We’re not sure what is more concerning: that the leader of the UF faculty senate (who happens to be a law professor) views our exposé as a form of “harassment” or that she appears to be advising faculty to “be proactive” by hiding the details of their curricula. Professors need to learn the reality that they don’t get to pick and choose which laws they want to adhere to in their classrooms. Laws requiring all professors to post all syllabi and required readings online would not be a bad way to deal with such a situation.
Implementation of 1291 started on July 1, and Florida’s Department of Education will now write a rule to flesh out how schools of education can retain the privilege of certifying teachers. Regulating schools of education is vulnerable to the same whack-a-mole shenanigans that plague efforts to rid schools of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices. Old practices will get renamed. Old positions will be relabeled. Yet Florida’s law has a hard edge to it. Florida’s Department of Education could prevent uncompliant schools of education from certifying teachers. This would not immediately end such schools, but it would stress them. The law also allows honest administrators a chance to point teetering or fallen schools of education away from corrupt, critical pedagogy and toward standards-based education.
Regulating ed schools is vulnerable to the same whack-a-mole shenanigans that plague efforts to rid schools of DEI.Toward the goal of guiding honest administrators, the following strategy might inform Florida’s regulators as they write a rule enforcing HB 1291. Teaching strategies derived from “critical race theory,” “culturally responsive pedagogy,” “restorative justice,” “transformative social and emotional learning,” and other derivatives of critical pedagogy must not be used in required classes; instead, required classes must emphasize cultural literacy, the comprehensive history of education and its related philosophies, content instruction, cognitive theories of learning, classroom management, and delivery of content derived from Florida’s state standards.
HB 1291 could be a kill shot for schools of education that, when they can no longer certify teachers, will simply die on the vine, their classes unattended and their positions well-nigh useless. Such hopes, while understandable, do not apply to schools of education at the most elite universities like UF. UF’s College of Education is above all a graduate institution. According to UF’s Institutional Planning and Research data, the College of Education grants at least two graduate degrees for every bachelor’s degree each academic year. In 2023, for instance, students earned 449 graduate degrees but only 207 bachelor’s degrees from UF’s College of Education. In 2017, UF granted 481 graduate degrees but only 90 undergraduate degrees.
There is a terrific incentive for colleges of education to focus on graduate education. Advanced degrees for teachers mean raises, promotions, and more opportunities. “In many school districts, earning a master’s degree comes with a raise,” according to Florida State University’s College of Education. “Having a graduate degree may help you find a new position or take on more advanced roles in your current district.” In the case of UF, the institution has a top online graduate program in education and has enrolled teachers from across the country for advanced degrees.
Elite universities earn untold money focusing on graduate degrees. School districts across the country pay full freight for advanced degrees for their K-12 teachers as part of continuing education. Graduate programs are designed to offer just such continuing-education programs—often offering online programs that allow schools of education to gain a nationwide market for their online services. Thus, graduate programs in education become cash cows for colleges of education like the one at UF.
HB 1291 could be a kill shot for some schools of education.To get a sense of the curriculum that UF’s College of Education is using to shape the minds of its graduate students, we analyzed the output that serves as the culmination of every graduate program: student dissertations. UF’s College of Education has, according to our investigation, granted 248 research degrees and doctorates since 2019. One hundred thirty-nine of the 248 dissertations had publicly available abstracts and tables of content, which we surveyed for a social-justice framework. Fifty-five of those 139 dissertations took social-justice ideology as a hallmark in their analysis—about 40 percent. Nineteen of the 31 dissertations concerned with curriculum and instruction were so infused (61 percent), as were 12 of the 27 in higher-education administration (44 percent), half of the 22 in educational leadership, half of the 10 in school psychology, and six out of the 15 in counseling and counselor education (40 percent).
In 2023, UF’s curriculum and instruction department approved the following woke dissertations:
- “Mad Men in the Academy: Masculinity and Gun Violence in American Higher Education,” written by an academic-success coordinator in Virginia.
- “Historia e Identidad: How First-Generation Latine Parents in West-Central Florida Experience Ethnic Nullification through History Curriculum [sic],” written by someone who aims to be teaching high-school history in Gainesville.
- “‘Just Give Them a 50%’: Teachers’ Beliefs on Differentiating Reading Comprehension Assessments for English Language Learners,” written by a school counselor in Marion County, Florida.
- “‘It Opens the Door for an Actual Possibility’: Students’ and Families’ Perceptions of Advanced Placement Coursework in a Title 1, High-Minority High School,” written by a New Mexico high-school teacher who “returned to school to learn how to use education for social change.”
- “The Double-Binds That Bind Us: A Latinx Woman Teacher’s Lens,” written by an Atlanta elementary-school teacher.
This flavoring of dissertations illustrates what over 40 percent of the graduate and terminal degrees look like in UF’s College of Education.
Dissertations in critical pedagogy are capstones of course experiences that emphasize the same critical pedagogy. Courses for the English-education program within the curriculum and instruction department, for instance, include “Language Arts for Diverse Learners in Early Childhood,” “Teaching Multiliteracies” [sic], “Multicultural Literature for Children and Adolescents,” “Literacy, Family, and Culture,” and “Literacy, Culture, and Politics.”
The pervasive influence of schools of education suggests that this fight is more necessary than most people know.Regulating schools of education for purposes of continuing education might just need to accompany regulating them on matters of certification. Using advanced degrees as a stand-in for increased competence for purposes of salary raises or career advancement should not be considered automatic. Indeed, school districts should embrace signifiers of merit that do not require increased credentials. Plain old time served would be better than credentialism.
In any event, only Florida is taking on the tall task of regulating schools of education as certifiers of teachers. Florida is undertaking this task after years of opening up alternatives to traditional schools of education. Florida’s de-regulation has proven wildly successful. Now, nearly 40 percent of teachers are certified through means that do not include schools of education. This number also shows why de-regulation is not enough, since around 60 percent still come through traditional schools of education. New Right politics demand joining the fight for these institutions so that they can be restored to usefulness in our country. The pervasive influence of schools of education suggests that this fight is more necessary than most people know.
Scott Yenor is senior director of state coalitions for the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life and a professor of political science at Boise State University. Steven DeRose is an executive in investment banking who has done extensive reporting on DEI in Florida higher education.